Friday, March 20, 2015

Minutes: Minutes of December 9, 2014 Board meeting were reviewed and approved.

Treasury: The treasurer reported that we have had a $891 loss for the 2014-2015 season so far. January's available balance is $1,737.92. The treasurers report was approved.

Reimbursements: There were no reimbursements.

Email lists: Virginia reported that a few additions to the dancer email list still need to be sent to Dianne. The board email list was not reviewed this time.

Scheduling: The need for a local band to play for the May dance was discussed. Bonne Terre is unavailable to play for it, and whether Cabin Fever can play for it is questionable due to the undecided timing of Fred's upcoming surgery and recovery. It was decided that if Cabin Fever cannot play in its usual configuration with Fred playing piano, that John would play guitar instead.

Logo and branding: A vote was taken, approving the use of the high-contrast (black and white) "Rhett and Julie" (two dancers doing a contra swing) as our official logo. When words are used, "Contracola" will be in large-ish letters with, optionally, the phrase "Columbia Traditional Music and Dance" in smaller letters.

Fred volunteered to research the word "contracola" as trademark, to be reported at next meeting.

Financial woes: At the rate we are losing money, there are only 9.75 dances left until we are broke. This led to the following discussions.

a) Raising the use of local bands next season. Currently we use local bands for four of the ten dancers. Next season we can raise that to six or eight.
b) Raising student rate. We would not do this until next season.
c) Emerald Ballroom Special Dance, scheduled for the fourth weekend in April. The out-of-town band has already been hired.

Venue:

a) Still trying to contact McKissick Museum representative regarding the AME church which is near Baptist Hospital and is now owned by McKissick Museum as a general arts space.
b) Emerald Ballroom. In light of our financial situation, we discussed cancelling this dance, even though the band has already been hired. After much discussion, a vote was taken, the result of which is not to cancel the dance.
c) Discussed possibility of partnering with Lake Murray Contra to put on contra dances. This led to the topic of liability. Sandra will bring a copy of the liability document she signs for swing dancing to the next meeting.
d) Sandra noted there is a building, formerly a church, for sale on Two-Notch Road. John knew of the building and nixed it as a venue for us.

Demos: Thirteen people have signed up so far. Lucy G. suggests we would need to have twenty dancers signed up to guarantee eight dancers for a given demo event. Demo signup needs to be announced at each dance.

Facebook: Andrew is Lake Murray Contra's Facebook person. Connie has communicated with him in an effort to get more Facebook "press" for our group. She has also communicated with Susan at Lake Murray.